San Francisco, CA – March 7 2006 – KGO NEWSTALK AM 810 made a clean sweep at the R&R 2006 News/Talk Industry Achievement Awards on March 4, in Washington D.C. KGO Radio was honored with News/Talk Station of the Year, KGO's Ronn Owens was awarded News/Talk Local Personality of the Year, tied with a Los Angles Station and KGO's Jack Swanson was awarded News/Talk Program Director of the Year. Radio and Records Inc. is a radio broadcast industry magazine.

Ronn Owens' exceptional interviewing skills have made him one of the best in the business. Ronn recently celebrated 30 years at KGO Radio. Owens' unique style, contemporary approach and wide-ranging knowledge on local, national and international issues has additionally won him the prestigious Marconi Award for Major Market Personality of the Year by the 2003 National Association of Broadcasters, recognizing the most outstanding radio personality in the country. The Ronn Owens Program can be heard 9am-Noon, weekdays on KGO AM 810.

Jack Swanson joined KGO Radio in 1979 as News Director. He later became Program Director for eight years maintaining KGO's top-rated status. Jack's second stint at KGO Radio as Program Director began in 1994 and his reign continues today preserving KGO's 107+ consecutive #1 Arbitron surveys. Jack has enjoyed a tremendous run of success and recognition having been voted the #1 Program Director several times by industry organizations and has been the recipient of this R&R award in 2001, 2002 and 2006.

As Mickey Luckoff, President and General Manger, accepted the Station of the Year award, he stated, "It is the personnel past and present that makes KGO great. That is why we have won this award 3 times over the past 6 years."

The Balboa Theatre (www.BalboaMovies.com ) is showing all the Oscar-nominated documentary shorts through Thursday. Our own Dan Krauss and Steve Okazaki will be speaking after select screenings.

Through Thursday, March 9:

THIS YEAR'S OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT DOCUMENTARIES

The rarely seen short documentary category hits the big screen. All 4 nominated shorts on one program. Filmakers in person. Details below.

The Mushroom Club -Steve Okazaki examines the terrible personal toll that followed the bombing of Hiroshima 60 years ago; 10 people whose lives were marked by the explosion are profiled. 35min.

A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin -Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson explore the lasting impact of radio broadcasting legend Norman Corwin's work focusing on his landmark "On a Note of Triumph," which aired on the evening of VE Day. 40min. OSCAR WINNER (2:55), 5:45, 8:35

The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club -Dan Krauss- After shooting an award-winning photograph that captured the full horror of starvation in the Sudan, South African photojournalist Kevin Carter found himself tormented by doubts about the ethical implication of his work. 27 min

God Sleeps in Rwanda - Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman - The genocide that devastated Rwanda in 1994 also left in its wake a population that was suddenly 70% female. Five courageous women struggle to rebuild their lives in a society still reeling from its bloody recent history. 30min. (1:40), 4:30, 7:20

Intermission between each pairing. -One admission price for all 4 films.

DIRECTORS IN PERSON:Dan Krauss, director of THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTERwill speak Wednesday after the 7:20 showing.

In this photo from Oscar.org, Ang Lee's spotted with movie producer James Schamus and Schamus' wife. For the 12th year, Wolfgang Puck provided the food for Oscar's major party. What did they have? Well, I got this from the Menu posted online at Oscar.org:

The Academy Awards were down 10 percent from last year's ceremony, based on preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings from the nation's 55 biggest markets. If the full national ratings follow suit later Monday, this year's ceremony will likely be the second least-watched Oscars telecast behind 2003, when "Chicago" won best picture.

The ceremony, where "Crash" won a surprise best picture trophy, drew a 27.1 rating and a 40 share. Each rating point is equivalent to 1.1 million homes, while the share indicates that 40 percent of the TVs in use last night were tuned to the awards.

Last year's metered markets had a 30.1 rating and 43 share, Nielsen said.

The ceremony's central lesson: Play a real person enmeshed in wrenching drama, win an Academy Award.

It worked last year for Jamie Foxx in "Ray" and this time around for Reese Witherspoon's portrayal of June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line" and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the glory-hungry writer in "Capote."

Sunday's Oscars were anything but predictable, however, as the explosive race drama "Crash" denied "Brokeback Mountain" the best-picture Oscar despite the gay Western love story's front-runner status and its best-director award for Ang Lee.

"Crash" -- Paul Haggis' wonderful film about race relations in LA -- took home the "Best Picture" award at the 78th Annual Academy Awards, upsetting front-runner "Brokeaback Mountain" and shattering all predictions boards, including mine.

In part because of this outcome, I scored 20 of 24 correct, missing on "Best Picture", "Cinematography", "Documentary Short", and "Animated Short." But in two of those categories, I picked the front-runner, which missed on both.

See. This article shows that Wonder Woman writer / director Josh Whedon has too much on his plate to give Wonder Woman the time she needs. Yes, he has time given by the exec producers, but he lacks the passion to really get it done.

Whedon's a goner for UUniversal pacts with 'Buffy' man for spec script

By MICHAEL FLEMING - Variety.com - Thursday, Sept 22, 2006

Universal Pictures has paid seven figures for "Goners," a fantasy thriller spec script Joss Whedon wrote and will direct.

Film will be produced by Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. The studio premiered Whedon's directorial debut, "Serenity," on Thursday night at Universal City Walk. Pic opens Sept. 30.

Whedon was cryptic in describing the project, but the title conveys that it will tread on supernatural turf comparable to his series creations "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the bloodsucker spinoff "Angel."

"It's the story of a young woman's journey that involves a great deal of horror and some heroics," he said. "It's certainly darker than 'Serenity,' and there are a lot of left turns along the way. It is something I had in mind for a while, and it just poured out of me when I finished my film."

Timing isn't clear, since Whedon is writing to direct "Wonder Woman," the Warner Bros. film based on the DC Comics heroine. That may take some time, as Whedon started his script from scratch.

"I was given license to purely make it my own and yet she is already an iconic Amazon princess," Whedon said. " 'Goners' has some similarities, but the heroines could not be more different, and the story is a bit more intimate and less complicated than 'Wonder Woman.' "

Whedon, who began his career writing features "Speed" and "Toy Story," shuttered his TV operation this year to focus on features. He will continue to spend the majority of his time with bigscreen fare but acknowledged he has been toying with a TV project that would continue the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" universe, focusing on Spike, the punk-haired vampire played by James Marsters.

Whedon's challenge is to figure a way to do it and be able to keep directing movies.

"Directing a film was as exciting and daunting as it was supposed to be," said the CAA-repped Whedon. "I learned a lot on 'Serenity' and hope I hid that from the audience."

This is an excerpt from the interview from Empire, which can be read with a click on the title post. It's the only part that mentions Wonder Woman, but when I combine it with other comments of his I've seen, it reads as if he's got his time divided between the Amazon Princess and other tasks, which doesn't make for a good story. I'm concerned that he's not really committed to the project.

How about Goners and Wonder Woman? Can you tell us more about those?Not a whole lot. I am still writing Wonder Woman. It is very awesome but incredibly unfinished, but I should be finishing that in a little while and then I’ll have a better idea of which film is actually going into production. But I can tell you that the film will be about introducing you to Wonder Woman. She'll be wearing the outfit and there will be the bracelets, the golden lasso and Greek gods. She comes from a civilisation where she's rather perfect, so she's the opposite to Buffy in many ways, but she's going through an adolescent rite of passage because she's new to the world.

Ang Lee and his oater romance "Brokeback Mountain" rode off with the top ribbons at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, while tyro director Paul Haggis' "Crash" took best first feature.

Although Focus Features' "Brokeback" scored as best feature and best director, the wealth was spread among a quartet of films. Receiving two awards each were "Brokeback," Lionsgate's "Crash," Sony Pictures Classics' "Capote" and the Weinstein Co.'s "Transamerica."

Indie Spirits, administered by Film Independent and held at a beachside tent in Santa Monica, came just one day before the Academy Awards, where the same pics were set to compete in an awards year dominated by smaller indie titles.

"Transamerica" star Felicity Huffman picked up the Indie Spirit for best female lead for her portrayal of a male transsexual about to become a woman.

Best male lead went to much-honored "Capote" star Philip Seymour Hoffman for his portrayal of Truman Capote.

The other "Capote" Indie Spirit went to scribe Dan Futterman for best screenplay. Award for best first screenplay went to Duncan Tucker for "Transamerica."

Matt Dillon won the award for best supporting male for his role as a racist cop in "Crash," while "Junebug" star Amy Adams was recognized as supporting actress for her role as a Chicago art dealer who visits her new in-laws in North Carolina. Pic was distribbed by Sony Classics.

Another awards favorite this season, helmer George Clooney's "Good Night, And Good Luck." picked up one Indie Spirit award, for Robert Elswit's cinematography.

Warner Independent Pictures' "Paradise Now," the Palestinian film directed by Hany Abu-Assad, won best foreign film.

Director Alex Gibney's "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," from Magnolia Pictures, was voted best documentary.

The John Cassavetes Award, which recognizes the best feature made for under $500,000, went to writer-director Mora Stephens "Conventioneers" from Cinema Libre Studios. Stephens co-wrote the screenplay with Joel Viertel, who produced the film.

Sony Pictures Classics nabbed three Indie Spirit Awards, the most of any distrib. Focus, Lionsgate, TWC and Warner Independent each took two.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- An underground global movement called the "Guerrilla Girls" has rankled Oscar officials with a billboard of a transvestite King Kong in Los Angeles.

The billboard -- near the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars will be handed out next Sunday -- depicts Kong wearing a dress and makeup holding an Oscar statuette, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The sign -- which cost $4,500 a month -- reads: "Unchain the Women Director. Women directed only 7 percent of the top 200 films of 2005," and "No woman director has ever won the Oscar. Only 3 have been nominated."

The sign was created and funded by 13 women's organizations, including Women in Film and the Fund for Women Artists.

The "Guerrilla Girls" have been around more than 20 years, pushing the worldwide entertainment industry to be more female-friendly, the newspaper said.

The latest attempt to ruffle feathers at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences drew a terse, "No comment," the Times reported, noting that the Oscar in the billboard is a trademarked image.

I can't wait for this one, and I'm not kidding. I still think "King Kong" was unfairly snubbed by the Academy in the nominations process. Time will prove that it's one of the best movies ever made. The only massive error was releasing it in December, rather than in August, thus drawing summer box office traffic.

KING Kong is set to sweep the board at this year's Empire awards - after receiving five nominations.

After being snubbed by the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Bafta's, the remake of the 1933 monster movie has been nominated for a host of top honours, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.Pride and Prejudice, Crash, and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit also faired well with four nominations each.

The Best Actor category will be a fight between Matt Dillon for his performance in Crash, Batman Begins' star Christian Bale, Johnny Depp for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Viggo Mortensen in the critically acclaimed A History Of Violence.

Similarly, the Best Actress category will be an equally tough choice between Dillon's Bafta-winning Crash co-star Thandie Newton, Pride and Prejudice's Keira Knightley, Renee Zellweger for her role in Cinderella Man, Hilary Swank for turn in Million Dollar Baby and King Kong star Naomi Watts.

The Sony Ericsson Empire Awards - which will be presented by British comedian Bill Bailey - will take place at the Hilton London Metropole on March 13.

Full list of Sony Ericsson Empire Awards nominees:

Best Newcomer

Leo Gregory (Stoned)Kelly Reilly (Mrs. Henderson Presents/Pride & Prejudice) Georgie Henley (Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe) James McAvoy (Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe) Nathan Fillion (Serenity)

Sony Ericsson Scene of the Year

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit - The Dogfight War Of The Worlds - Arrival of the First TripodThe Descent - First Attack of the Crawlers Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith - Birth of Vader Crash - The Car Rescue

Best Comedy

The Wedding CrashersThe Hitchhiker's Guide To The GalaxyThe League Of Gentlemen's ApocalypseTeam America: World PoliceWallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit